Engaging Presentations that Inspire Action

Helping you make decisions and take action for your family and family business. As an accomplished speaker, instructor and professional facilitator, Laura’s presentations promise to inspire and engage you. Laura is a Toastmaster and a frequent speaker and emcee in her local community.

Speaking Topics

Going into the “no go” zone – techniques for talking about tough topics

Conflict is a normal part of everyday human interaction. When you are in a family business, there are more opportunities for there to be conflict. Individuals come to a decision from different perspectives, using lessons learned from different experiences and from various personal characteristics and communication preferences. Some individuals are direct and others beat around the bush. Some are spontaneous and others need time to reflect and do their own research before voicing an opinion. Avoiding conflict keeps your business and family stuck or at an impasse, unable to improve their business or their family harmony. In this presentation, Laura gives you the tools, tips and techniques to improve communication in your family business.

Planning for change, “letting go” and planning for the new horizon

You love working in the business, talking with customers and suppliers and continuing to steer the ship. You can’t think about what you’ll do when you no longer have the business to run. Your spouse, on the other hand, has many ideas of what you can do once you step away from the business and “retire”. Your adult children are ready to take on more responsibility in the business and are ready for you to step back so they can step up. What are you going to do? Laura helps you get ready for change, let go of the business and make new plans for the next horizon.

Who wants the business… and when? Planning for succession and transition

You need to pass the business onto someone else so you can step away and “retire”. Do you have a successor lying in wait or do you need to recruit one? Your successor wants a plan and agreements – with clear deadlines and plans to transition decision making and responsibilities to them. As your successor steps up, you step back. What do you want? To be useful, respected and appreciated. You want an income stream to fund your lifestyle funded. In this engaging educational presentation, Laura shares options and strategies to gain clarity for everyone’s futures.

Being Valued – Encouraging the heart and soul of your business: your family

It’s not “just business”. There are practical, day-to-day business decisions that need to be made but the people involved in the business need to also have their personal needs met. They want to feel valued and appreciated for their contributions to the family business: in business leadership or family leadership roles. Strong family businesses pay attention to relationship capital, not just financial capital and net worth. In this presentation, Laura explores family leadership skills that strengthen all 5 types of capital in a family business.

Cash Flow Confidence-learning to speak the language of business

Financial pressures are the primary source of business stress. Many business owners don’t pay attention or understand their cash flows. If you fail to speak the language of business, you’ll fail to take advantage of opportunities to more effectively manage cash flows and reduce your stress. In this education presentation, Laura builds your understanding of cash flows and builds financial literacy for leaders.

Client Testimonials

I would highly recommend Laura as an experienced consultant for any organization who is looking at maximizing results through impactful interventions.

Aida RodriguezSuncor Energy

Laura demonstrates a mastery-level ability with facilitation. Her facilitation style is inclusive, supportive and engaging. She frequently received high praise from participants on how much they enjoyed attending one of her workshops or events. Laura was instrumental in leading and developing the department’s strategic plan. Laura spearheaded a successful branding campaign and was able to successfully raise the department’s profile at the College through targeted initiatives, newsletters, and a re-design of the website. Laura promoted and displayed superior, customer-led service.Laura brings energy and commitment to meeting the client’s needs to any project she undertakes. I am thrilled to hear she is starting her own company in e-Learning and would gladly recommend her and her work.

Karen FiegeBow Valley College

Laura has business insights gained over years of experience operating her own businesses and from working with a variety of enterprises and organizations.She provided straight-forward, efficient and effective assistance that had me stop and reflect on the validity of assumptions, and then progress toward my goals. Laura prompted me to see assumptions that I might be making that could be costly and time consuming with respect to building my business.

Myles Flaig

Laura cares deeply for the people she works with and understands the importance of relationships with all stakeholders. She is a leader of change and her insatiable thirst for knowledge is exemplified through her creative solutions to problems – problems the client might not even know they have yet. I would highly recommend Laura, as she brings with her, extensive experience and leaves behind a team that is more aware of the real issues, the root causes and the path that leads to a long term solutions.

Shannon KingSuncor Energy

You have been such an integral part of JPF. We have taken our small company to a place that will leave a foot print in Calgary Construction Industry. It is so apparent that your background with owning a handful of businesses and designations in accounting that we made a good choice.Through a year that everyone was glad to see go, you made 2016 a success for JPF.